Acts: 1777

The principal acts of the general assembly, convened at Edinburgh, May 22, 1777.

I. Sess. 1, May 22, 1777.—The King's Commission to George Earl of Dalhousie produced, and ordered to be recorded.

The General Assembly, &c.

II. Sess. 1, May 22, 1777.—The King's most gracious Letter to the General Assembly, presented to them by his Majesty's Commissioner.

George, R., &c.

III. Sess. 3, May 24, 1777.—The General Assembly's Answer to the King's most gracious Letter.

May it please your Majesty, &c.

IV. Sess. 4, May 26, 1777.—The General Assembly's Address to his Majesty on the present situation of Affairs in North America.

May it please your Majesty,
We, your Majesty's most loyal subjects, the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, met together in a National Assembly, consider it as our duty, at this interesting juncture, to approach your throne, in order to assure your Majesty that our attachment to your person and government, and the zeal of the people under our care for the constitution and rights of Great Britain, continue firm and unshaken.

Sensible of our own felicity under the reign of a Prince who has been the faithful guardian of those laws and liberties which the illustrious House of Hanover was called to secure and maintain, we observed, with deep concern, the first appearances of a turbulent and ungovernable spirit among the people of North America. We have contemplated its alarming progress with astonishment, and beheld fellow-subjects, who enjoyed in common with us the blessings of your Majesty's mild administration, take arms in opposition to your just authority, and disclaim the supremacy of the British legislature, reject with disdain the means of conciliation, generously held out to them by your Majesty, and labour to erect their unlawful confederacies into independent states.

With reverence and gratitude to Divine Providence, we offer our congratulations to your Majesty on the success which has attended the fleets and armies, which you have been constrained to employ, in order to oppose the violence of rebellious subjects, and reclaim them to a sense of their duty. While we trust that your Majesty's councils will be conducted with wisdom, and your troops continue to act with valour, we regard it as our immediate duty, in the present situation of public affairs, to increase our diligence in discharging the functions of our sacred office, that we may not only confirm the people under our care in sentiments of loyalty to their Sovereign, and attachment to the British constitution, but may impress all ranks of men with a deep sense of their manifold transgressions, and incite them to such reforma tion in their hearts and lives, as will avert from our country those judgments which our iniquities justly deserve.

That the Lord of Hosts, in whose hand is power and might, may go forth with the fleets and armies of our country; that he who stilleth the tumults of the people, and ruleth the spirit of man, may, in his good time, turn the hearts of the Children unto their fathers, that the destroying sword may return into his scabbard, and be at rest; that the union between Great Britain and her colonies may be speedily re-established, on terms so just and equitable that both may long rejoice under the government of your Majesty, as their common parent and benefactor, are the daily and fervent prayers of,
May it please your Majesty, your Majesty's most faithful, most obedient, and most loyal subjects, the Ministers and Elders met in this National Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Signed in our name, in our presence, and at our appointment, by
James Brown, Moderator.

V. Sess. 9, May 31, 1777.—Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for Reformation of the Highlands and Islands, and for Managing his Majesty's Royal Bounty for that end.

The General Assembly, &c.

VI. Sess. 9, May 31, 1777.—Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for discussing Affairs referred to them.

The General Assembly, &c.

VII. Sess. 7, May 29, 1777.—Overture and Interim Act concerning Persons going to be Licensed or Ordained without the Bounds of this Church.

(See Act 9th, 1779.)

VIII. Sess. ult., June 2, 1777.—Act anent the Day of Meeting of the Synod of Fife.

There having been a mistake in the 10th Act of the last Assembly, respecting the day of the meeting of the Synod of Fife, the General Assembly do now ordain, that the meeting of the said Synod, in the month of October, shall be on the second Tuesday of that month yearly.

IX. Sess. ult., June 2, 1777.—Renewal of the Appointment of Assembly, 1763, respecting Collections.

The General Assembly did agree to renew an appointment of the Assembly, 1763, respecting collections made by act or recommendation of Assembly, and that the same should be inserted with the printed Acts of this Assembly; and, accordingly, the General Assembly do now appoint, that, in all future collections made by such act and recommendation, the brethren or Presbyteries, when they remit the money collected, in obedience thereto, to the person or persons named in the Act for receiving the same, shall transmit, at the same time, an exact account of the several sums of money so remitted to the clerks of Assembly, who shall keep a book for enrolling the said remittances, that the Church may have thereby an opportunity of knowing the just amount of the several collections made in obedience to Acts of Assemblies.

X. Sess. ult., June 2, 1777.—Act appointing the Diet of the next General Assembly.

The next General Assembly of this National Church is appointed to be held within the New Church Aisle of Edinburgh, on Thursday, the 21st day of May, in the year 1778.

Collected and extracted from the Records of the General Assembly, by
George Wishart, Cls. Eccl. Scot.

XI. Sess. ult., June 2, 1777.—Overture and Licensing Probationers.

(See Act 8th, 1782.)